Minutes of the 97th Annual
General Meeting of the Van Riebeeck Society for the Publication of Southern
African Historical Documents (VRS) held at Ravenswood House, Hatfield Street,
Gardens at 17h30 on Tuesday 6th December 2016.

Agenda

1.Welcome
and apologies

2.In
Memoriam

3.Confirmation
of minutes of 96th AGM held on 28 January 2016

4.Matters
arising from minutes

5.Report
of the Treasurer

6.Report
of the Chair

7.AOB

1.Welcome
and apologies

The
Chair, Prof Howard Phillips, welcomed the members present. Apologies were
recorded (as per the attached list). He expressed the Society’s thanks to
Patrick and Chavonne Esnouf who made their beautiful
home available for the meeting.

2.In
Memoriam

Members
stood for a minute’s silence whilst the Chairman read out the list of members
who had died since the previous AGM (list attached). Randolph Vigne and Rodney
Davenport, both long term members of the Society, would be particularly missed.

3.Confirmation
of the minutes of the 96th AGM held on 28 January 2016.

Copies
of the minutes were available at the AGM. Acceptance of the minutes was proposed
by Dr Sandy Shell and seconded by Dr Elizabeth van Heyningen. The minutes were
accepted by all without discussion.

4.Matters
arising from the minutes

None.

5.Report
of the Treasurer

Financial
documentation was made available to members. The Treasurer, Mr Danie de
Villiers, referred to the audited annual financial statements in explaining the
Society’s financial position:

·Statement
of Financial Position

·Statement
of Financial Performance

·Income
statement projection versus budget

·Notes
to the Annual Financial Statements

Mr
de Villiers noted that the Society’s financial situation was generally healthy.
In 2015, the market value of long term investments had increased by 6%. At the
end of 2015 there was a surplus of R150 000 more than that recorded for
2014. The income statement of financial performance therefore showed a surplus
for 2015 compared to a large deficit in 2014. Discussing the budget, the
Treasurer noted that the Society was similarly ending 2016 with a surplus. A
review of the last three years thus showed a deficit for 2014 and surpluses for
2015 and 2016.

Dr
Stephen Craven asked whether direct debit could be used to collect
subscriptions. Mr de Villiers replied, noting that such a system would be
expensive to implement and manage.

Acceptance
of the Treasurer’s report was proposed by Dr Hugh Amoore and seconded by Mr
Andrew Duncan. Agreed unanimously.

(A
copy of the audited accounts is appended)

6.Report
of the Chair

Professor
Phillips said that it was an honour to have members of the Thema family present
at the meeting.

He
expressed his gratitude to the hosts, Patrick and Chavonne Esnouf
for generously making their beautiful home available to the Society. He also
thanked the Principal of Cape Town High School, Mr Petersen who arranged for
parking space and provided tables and chairs.

The
year 2016 had been a year of two new faces and of administrative reform. Mr de
Villiers, Rolf Proske, the new administrator, and Sandra Commerford, the office
assistant had together streamlined office procedures and management. The Chair
particularly thanked Sandra Commerford for her efforts in office
administration. He also thanked Mr Tony Westby-Nunn for his volunteer work at
the office. The Chair called for further volunteers to provide administrative
assistance. He thanked the administrative staff, and noted that the new online
administrative systems are still a work in progress.The Society’s website was in the process of
being upgraded and modernised.

The
Chair gave an outline of prospective volumes for 2017 through to 2023, and
mused where the Society would be in 2023. In order to continue and thrive, the
Society would have to:

a)Recruit
more members. There had been a downward trend in membership in the last few
years.

b)The
Society would have to remain financially secure.

c)The
Society would have to meet contemporary and developing digital demands. The
2015 volume had been digitised as an e-book.

d)Re-branding.
The new Council would consider the matter of re-naming in 2018. The Council
would also have to explore fund-raising opportunities

Prof
Phillips thanked outgoing Council members Prof Jane Carruthers, Dr Con de Wet,
Prof Sandra Klopper and Prof Johan Wasserman, who are all retiring. The Chair
thanked Dr Con de Wet in particular. He also thanked the five members of Exco
who serve on the Council. Prof Phillips noted that he had enjoyed his 15 years
as a member of Council and as Chair. Elizabeth van Heyningen proposed a vote of
thanks to Prof Phillips.

Discussion
ensued on the Chair’s report.

In
reply to a question from the floor the Chair stated that the situation of the
editor of the Peter Kolbe volume was still uncertain. A further question
queried how the Society acquired new members, and the Chair explained that this
was done by means of inter alia a presence at conferences and support for
students at universities. The Society had been represented at the Cape Town
Book Fair, which unfortunately was now defunct. Advertising was mainly by word
of mouth as extensive advertising was beyond the Society’s budget. The Chair
noted that the current young generation was perhaps not as keen on buying
traditional books as was previously the case.

The
question of a new name for the Society was posed. The Chair stated that any new
name should be neutral, and should be linked to the old name, as is “Formerly
the Van Riebeeck Society”, especially as this would facilitate web searches.
The new Council would be tasked with this question.

As
to plans to re-print old volumes, the Chair noted that in the past year 100
reprints had been sold. These printings were successful and financially prudent
as the printing was on demand. The next reprint would be the diary of the Rev
Francis Owen.

The
Chair’s report was proposed by Mr Ken Evans and seconded by Ms Tanya Barben,
and was accepted unanimously.

(A full copy of the report is appended)

7.Any
Other Business

Mr
John Rennie read out the list of 16 nominations for the new Council.New nominations were those of Hugh Amoore,
Danie de Villiers, Adam Mendelsohn and Sandra Swift. The nominations were
accepted by the meeting.

The
Chair announced a break before the book launch proceeded, and the meeting
closed at 18h24.